A Day at the Office - Renal Infarct CT Scan

I couldn't resist posting this unusual scan I performed recently. It happens to be a friend of mine but identity isn't important. What started out as right flank pain became so severe that "Bob" came to my Emergency Room.

A routine CT Abdomen&Pelvis and Renal Ultrasound showed nothing other than a right renal cyst on the inferior pole. The patient was discharged home only to return later that night (on my shift) with increased pain. Evaluation of a second set of bloodwork showed a marked increase in white blood cells so the ER Physician decided to order a second CT Abdomen&Pelvis but with IV and PO contrast dye this time.

The image attached to this blog post shows a fully enhanced left kidney (its on the right side of the screen) and a poorly enhanced right kidney. The right kidney appears to only be receiving contrast dye in the upper and lower poles. The middle pole is almost non-existent.

With these images, the medical team was able to discern a renal infart or possible discection was in play and "Bob" was taken to the Cath Lab for stenting. He is doing much better now, one week later, and is schedule for more follow up testing to check perfusion rates.

Two is One, One is None...Be Redundant.

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Two is One, One is None...Be Redundant.

Redundancy is key to serenity. Its when you have only one important item and it gets damaged, lost, etc that you find out how important redundancy is. Here's a short list of important items and how I've built in redundancy.

Income- (1) My main job (Sonography, Radiography). (2) My part-time job (See #1, different hospital). (3) My wife is nationally certified in Radiology and can work if necessary.

Income skills- (1) Trained in Sonography. (2) Trained in Computed Tomography. (3) Trained in Radiography.

Transportation- (1) The family Suburban. (2) The family Jeep. (3) My auto insurance includes rental car coverage should one of my cars becomes disabled.

Food- (1) Our biweekly grocery run. (2) Our garden and short term food storage. (3) Our long term (25+ years) food storage.

Water- (1) House/city water. (2) 55-gallon drums x 12 in the backyard. (3) Bottled water in the garage.

Shelter- (1) Our house. (2) Our family retreat 2+ hours north of town (3) a retreat property with no shelter but we have tents, sleeping bags, etc for now.

Entertainment- (1) Electronic games. (2) A ton of movies/cartoons stored on a hard drive. (3)MacBook with solar panel recharger.

Water filtration- (1) Berkey water filter with 2 black Berkey ceramic filters + pf2 x 2 filters. Filters 3 gallons per hour. (2) Sand filter. (3) Boiling/plastic bottle in the sun sterilizing.

Cooking- (1) Indoor stove & microwave. (2) Outdoor propane bbq grill x 2. (3) Dutch ovens to cook on charcoal/wood fires.

Areas I need to work on:

Communication- (1) Five cell phones in our immediate family. (2) I want to purchase a mobile ham radio for the Jeep and a home ham radio for the house. (3) Garmin Nuvi handheld sets.

Food caches- I only have food stores at our main house. A majority of our meat is stored in a standup freezer ($10 freezer alarm on Amazon). If we lose power, there goes the meat! (searching for propane freezer). Can also store food in a locker at work for secondary cache or at our retreat property up north. (Update: filled work locker with cans of Campbell's soup. Headed up North this weekend to begin stocking BugOut location.)

Firearms- One lonely shotgun :-(

Excretion- Two bathrooms in the house. Need porta-potty ($22 on Amazon) just in case there are plumbing issues. Last resort would be to dig a latrine. (Update: have added the bucket porta-potty above)

Power- Totally dependent on the grid with the exception of my little solar charger (made for cell phones and laptops). Would like a gas generator (several on Amazon) and maybe, just maybe, a solar-powered portable system.

Washing Clothes- Aside from our indoor washer/dryer, that's it. I'd like to add a WonderWash. Last option would be a washtub. (Update: have added WonderWash x 2)

What did I forget?

Using Chicken Tractors to Raise Chickens.

I'm interested in raising chickens in my backyard. I'm sure it is harder than I think it is but I just found another way to, perhaps, make it a bit easier.

I shuddered at the thought of letting the chickens "free range" or roam freely about my lavishly green grassed back yard. Then I read about the chicken tractor and felt a little more at ease.

Why? Because with a chicken tractor, the chickens can free range while still being confined to a mobile chicken coop.

Wikipedia says: "Chicken tractors allow a kind of free ranging along with shelter, allowing chickens fresh forage such as grass, weeds and bugs (although these will quickly be stripped away if the tractor stays put for too long), which widens their diet and lowers their feed needs. Unlike fixed coops, chicken tractors do not have floors so there is no need to clean them out. They echo a natural, symbiotic cycle of foraging through which the birds eat down vegetation, deposit fertilizing manure, then go on to a new area."

CHICKEN RAISING SUPPLIES
Getting into backyard chickens? These help:

• Portable Chicken Tractor Coop — lets chickens graze fresh ground safely.
• Chicken Feeder & Waterer Set — keeps your flock fed and watered.

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Storing Cooked, Dehydrated Hamburger

I found an interesting thread on how to cook, then dehydrate meats like hamburger, turkey, pork etc. The original thread is here.

From the thread:

"Recipe:

Fry 5lbs of ground meat. When cooked transfer to colander and rinse meat under hot water to remove fat. Place washed meat back into cleaned skillet. fry again over med/low heat stirring often until you see no more steam. Keep flame low once the rocks are browing up nicely.

Place twice cooked rocks into an oven roasting pan. Turn the oven to 200 degrees F, stirring and turning occaisionally as meat continues to dry. One to two hours should do the job. Remove from oven and check for dryness. Store in Jar or ziplock bag.

If you want to "can" the hamburger rocks for long term storage, preheat canning jars in the oven at 250, simmer lids as usual. Put the rocks into the jars while hot, then seal jars. After 15 minutes or so the jars will cool and you will hear the jar lids "pop" as they seal in place.

I love this method because there is no expensive pressure canner involved. The credit for this recipe goes to Mrs Miles from the End Times Report site. She also has a great recipe for canned butter you might like on her site."

With a dehydrator:

"I just fry line til the fat runs off, then rinse them and stick them into the dehydrator...it seesm to make them more tender that way. I also make pebbles and gravel this way...just cut the meat a bit larger.

Turkey and pork are also good like this."

FOOD DEHYDRATING SUPPLIES
Want to dehydrate your own meat for storage? These help:

• Food Dehydrator — great for making shelf-stable meat and produce.
• Mylar Bags with Oxygen Absorbers — ideal for long-term dehydrated food storage.

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HOW TO DEAL WITH SOMALI MUSLIM PIRATES

The Russians have the right idea: Seize and Destroy (watch the video).

Daddy...my tummy hurts! Acute Appendicitis

Another unusual CT Scan today (for me anyway). A 10 year old boy came in with his father complaining of RLQ pain (right lower quadrant). This can be a sign of problems with the appendix and normal Emergency Room protocol demands a CT Scan of the Abdomen&Pelvis with Oral and IV contrast.

I've attached the axial (cross-sectional) image of his pelvis. The little worm or snail looking thing (as my wife calls it) in the upper left corner is his highly enlarged appendix.

Little man was transferred out of our facility to a more appropriate children's facility where I'm sure he had it removed by morning.

My ER Physician that evening was also a surgeon and he stated that in all his years in surgery, he'd never seen an appendix look like that one.

Oh Droid Incredible...How I Love Thee.

I must admit, I was one of those dad's you see with an old flip phone just a few short months ago. I had my LG flip and I was VERY comforable with it. It took terrific pictures and video (in my mind) and was light yet durable.

Amid all the buzz that was the iPhone, I started to get curious. Being a fervent Verizon customer, I found that even if I wanted an iPhone...it was out of reach. I'd have to wait until it would be released from the Apple/AT&T contract and show up on Verizon's doorstep.

Then I made one of my frequent visits to my local Walmart Neighborhood Marketplace. When I say frequent, I mean just about daily. My six girls gulp down nearly two gallons of milk daily.

During my visit to the store, an employee was fiddling with his smart phone. A light conversation ensued and he gave me the rundown on why the Android was better than an iPhone. Since my cell phone provider didn't carry the iPhone, I gave in and switched to the Droid Incredible. I mean, I had 30 days to change my mind, right?

I can honestly say my life has changed for the better since acquiring the Incredible. The things it puts at my fingertips are such time savers. Here's a few of my fav's:

CraigsNotifica - if ever I need to buy something of value, I can post the search on this little app and set it to check CL every 5 minutes. This ensures that I'll be notified immediately upon its posting and be one of the first people to respond to the ad. I've saved TONS of money with this little app.

ShopSavvy - I'm browsing a store and see something I like. With SS, I can barcode scan the item and it will check the internet for the best price including both online stores and local stores (thanks to GPS). Another money saver.

Mint - A free online personal software system. If you keep track of your spending at all, this program is king. Having an Android app just makes it all the easier to use.

These are just a few of about 40 apps I have on my Droid Incredible. I can't say enough about how well it works, rarely crashes and picks up signal just about everywhere (and I work in Radiology, behind lead walls).

I still see guys out there with flip phones. I'm not saying I don't understand why you still have it, cause I do. I'm saying...you don't know what you're missing!

SMARTPHONE ACCESSORIES
Protect your phone with these essentials:

• Heavy Duty Phone Case — keeps your phone protected from drops.
• Car Phone Mount — great for hands-free navigation and calls.

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